


take all the time you need

by exceed



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, big ol fluff pile, maybe some angst whoops, no capital (capitol?) letters here, ruff boi becomes soft boi, those quiet moments that u gotta soak in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 15:06:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14673660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exceed/pseuds/exceed
Summary: over the century, he learns to find solace in the quiet moments.Magnus lets himself slow down, sometimes.





	take all the time you need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stonestars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonestars/gifts).



> BIRTHDAY GIFT TWO. HAHA.  
> lov ya, han!! i hope you love this too!!!!!

over the century, he learns to find solace in the quiet moments.

exhausted from training with the power bear, he’d collapse grinning on the deck to find lucretia sitting against a heavy box, looking out over the forest clearing they had settled in to draw the flora and fauna she found. he could only catch his breath as she kept drawing and they sat there for hours, until it was too dark to see the paper.

his sleep that night was deep, easy.

a few years later, he found her doing much the same thing, sitting against a tree by a river. she gave off an aura of calm that he just couldn’t shake, and so he sat closer to the river, dipping his feet in the lazy current and watching as fish swam around his wiggling toes.

he looked back to see her glancing up at him and down at her journal. he smiled and looked back down at the river, kicking his feet once before settling back down.

she seemed like someone who liked the quiet times even more than he did. well. he wasn’t one to appreciate them much, at first. he wanted to move, to train, to find the light. but she would read books, sit outside and sketch until her hands ached, drink in those stretches of relative silence as if she needed them just as much as water.

maybe he just liked watching someone else thrive in those beats of softness.

an hour later, he stretched and walked back to find that there was a sketch of him, painstakingly detailed like the grass around him and the slow ripples of the river and the bees taking their time to settle on the flowers they saw. he smiled, ruffled her hair and ignored her disgruntled sound, laughing and making his way back to the starblaster.

 

* * *

 

those times weren’t limited to lucretia.

davenport would commandeer their dining table to make maps of what they knew, sketching them out whenever he could and letting the others use them as guides. he tried so hard to be a proper captain in front of them that none of them but maybe merle got to see what he did on his free time often- but one day, when the others were off to get food from a large market that was a day or two’s walk, he happened upon a curious sight.

he was making kites.

each little bit was crafted with the utmost care, and he could see davenport’s satisfied smile at the creation in front of him. a currently quite flat snowy owl kite- and his captain seemed to startle when he turned to see him, and he didn’t break the silence as he walked forward to watch davenport pick up the kite.

with a motion of his head, they went up to the deck.

he wanted to speak, but it felt...wrong. he was vibrating with the need to chatter, to ask him why he built such a gorgeous kite but the silence was like a still lake that one couldn’t break. ripples would destroy the moment- and he only realized that as davenport let the owl rise into the air, whispering underneath his breath and letting illusion magic transform it into something more.

it was only eight, nine years in, but… for once, he was seeing a side of davenport that he hadn’t ever seen before. more vulnerable, the creases in the corners of his eyes and the upturn of his lips giving him more insight on the man that he had found unreadable for the longest time.

he let out a breath, sat down, and grinned as he watched the illusioned owl kite fly.

none of the others knew why he held such a content air around him after they got back.

he never breathed a word of the moment for as long as he lived.

 

* * *

 

as everyone quickly came to learn, taako stress baked. cooked. well. stress anything-related-to-food-or-drink.

they’d wake up in the morning to mountains of cookies, or loaves of bread that were absolutely stunning, or him finishing up a cake with tired eyes and slow but precise movements as he iced it to perfection.

in the evening he could go at dinner with gusto, cooking with a fervor that they saw often but not that strong- even lup couldn’t help, just given an irritated flick of the ear before she went to sit down with the others.

one night, nightmares of the others dying fresh on his mind, he found taako pulling ingredients out of the various cabinets and places that they pushed things into. he blinked at the elf, his ears lashing to and fro until he turned to see magnus, blinking wildly at the intruder.

he waved sheepishly.

taako snorted and motioned him forwards, tension in the set of his body even as he started to talk, quiet and with the tension slowly leaking out of his body as he made a drink.

“so, cha’boy’s gonna teach you the best fuckin’ hot cocoa you’ve ever seen...mind pulling out the bag of marshmallows for me? we’re running low, but you can’t have hot cocoa without marshmallows, not on my watch.”

he watched with a fascinated gleam in his eyes as taako made hot chocolate in front of him, talking softly all the while and not bothering with any magic tricks as he poured it into mugs, plopped a few marshmallows in, and slowly walked to the windows of their kitchen to look outside.

“you know, the magic makes it worse, maggie,” he had remarked with a murmur, sipping at his cocoa and staring out at the world that wasn’t theirs. “even you could make it. good for the bad nights.”

his mind lingered on that one night, that one moment as he made hot cocoa over many cycles, as he talked to lucretia while making some, served up a few to all of the family when taako was gone and lup was too out of it to do anything, when he was on a moon with so much of his life wiped away, handing it to taako with a proud grin and a few marshmallows floating on top.

sometimes it was easier to soak up the softer, more fragile times with a good cup of hot cocoa on your side.

 

* * *

 

lup, in a sharp contrast to taako, preferred to vent her anger and frustration by blasting out fire, tiring herself out before stumbling back into the starblaster. that tended to happen a few times a year- moreso when taako was gone.

thankfully taako was in the starblaster during her latest venting session. she would burn herself out so badly, when he was gone.

instead of dropping to the ground when she came in, she gave magnus a high-five and flopped over his lap from where he sat on the couch, stretching out much like a possessive cat. a similar rumble started in her chest before she settled down, closing her eyes and relaxing. he could only laugh, smile and run a hand through her hair as they stayed there, as night fell and three moons rose on the planet they were currently inhabiting.

“you doing alright?” he looked down at her, concerned even as their lazy moment kept stretching on. only an ear moved- hitting him lightly, which made him smile. “i know, uh, that you and barry haven’t been doing well finding the light this year.”

a grumble rose from lup as she curled up more.

“no, no. don’t get all grumbly with me, lup. you just maybe need...an extra hand. maybe someone who knows a lot more about this plane’s society as a whole, hmm?”

lup turned, raising an eyebrow at him and stretching out. “all lucy’s been doing is reading on the main powers of the...region…”

he grinned as she seemed to realize that maybe that was what they needed, watching her groan and stretch back out. “realized something, huh?”

“...maybe we need her. don’t hold it over my head, dammit.”

he laughed and resumed petting her hair, feeling content as a rumbling purr started to rise from her. elves were really like cats, after all- minus the fur and tail, of course, but...they purred when they were content and safe.

her loud, rumbling purr lulled him to sleep just minutes later.

 

* * *

 

now, merle was...curious.

of course, that could be from any number of reasons. perhaps the fact that he was the oldest member of their group, really, and maybe the way he talked to the plants in the greenhouse or jokingly didn’t heal their little scrapes or just the way he acted.

the way he went into parley with a full heart, turning into a smokey outline that always, always dissolved.

one day, he invited magnus to play chess with him on the deck.

magnus was curious- really, merle only seemed to play chess with davenport. but their captain wasn’t there this year, leaving a void of nightly chess games and secret kite flying and a steady hand. nobody was dealing with it well. this was the first time he had gone.

“you good, old man?” magnus had a softer smile when he walked up onto the deck, a glass of water in one hand and a fruit plate that taako had made the previous day in the other. “i, uh, i-”

“oh, shut up.” merle had a grin on his face, one that was weary and quiet as he sat down next to him, a chess board within their reach. “let’s not talk about that, okay? just play some chess with me. i’ve gotten bored, just talking to my plants.”

magnus laughed and snorted, leaning back in the chair and popping a strawberry into his mouth before looking over at him. “who would’ve thought that you wouldn’t want to talk to your dear, dear plants?”

“fuck you, magnus.”

“fuck your plants instead.”

they laughed and laughed and laughed, settling down and picking fruit from the plate magnus brought as they started to play. the sun passed overhead, clouds rolling along, and even with the void that they could all feel, they had a moment to just...relax.

they did so again, many times that cycle.

 

* * *

 

magnus couldn’t exactly pinpoint what barry could be doing at any time. sure, there was a good chance he was working on finding the light, but he could also be tinkering, or he could be doing dumb science projects or working on some pretty gnarly necromancy. he could have sworn that he had caught barry figuring out how to pick locks without magic at one point, too.

it was a bit easier to tell what he was doing when they were on a two-person expedition, anyways.

picking up carving had given him something to do. since that first duck on legato, since fisher joined their party, it had been easy to keep going, to pick up his old grandfather’s knife that was still so good and whittle away at some wood by the campfire. the stars spread out on the night sky’s canvas above them, and he glanced over to see that barry was occupied with…

...with staring into the fire, a strange expression on his face.

“barry? you good?”

“...yeah. yeah, i am.” barry sighed and sat back, turning his eyes up from the flickering fire to the expanse that awaited him in the inky sky. no clouds blocked their view, not tonight, and with the fire as the only light for miles around, they could see galaxies.

“...hey, magnus, do you think that what we’re doing is pointless?”

“hm?”

“going through each cycle, dying and reforming or just going on, having nothing except the starblaster and our family.”

magnus sighed, carving details as he talked, etching in a feather with the careful application of pressure. “...we’ll be able to settle down eventually,” he said simply, faith still in his heart even with it worn down over decades of cycles. “we have to hope. we can defeat the hunger one day, and you and lup can get married for good, and i can have a house with fisher and a bunch of dogs and have everyone over for as long as i want.”

barry gave a soft chuckle. “pretty hopeful, magnus, huh?”

“i have to be.”

barry scooted closer. magnus set down the wooden duck and the knife to wrap an arm around his shoulder, sighing and leaning his head on the older human’s head as they both lowered their gazes to watch the fire.

“...thanks, magnus.”

embers were cast off. the flame curled around the air, elegant and ever-changing.

many more nights like this occured on their long expedition.

“it’s no problem, barry.”

 

* * *

 

just over a century after leaving a two-sunned world, he finds himself standing by a window, thumb tracing over wood as another person lightly touched his back, tracing idle lines through his shirt and wrapping their arms around his neck.

“you don’t seem like the type who enjoys the quiet moments,” the love of his life murmurs, a sprinkle of amusement in her eyes as she lets him spin around, a grin on her face as she pulls him in for a sweet, sweet kiss.

he laughs and goes to sit down on their couch, trading kisses and murmurs with his wife, julia- just married, two days ago- with a mind pleasantly buzzing with static as he tried to think of when he had started to like those moments, mind dissolving into a fog before he shrugged and kissed her again, letting some of her hair curl around his finger, sitting back with a content sigh. an unfinished wood carving of a duck sat on the coffee table, his grandfather’s knife right next to it.

“they’re relaxing,” he whispered, breathing in the perfume that still lingered on her, traced the curve of her face, pulled her in once again. “and i get to spend them with you for the rest of my life, jules.”

“you sap,” she laughed, kissing his face all over before curling up and closing her eyes, relaxing in his arms. “of course you’ll get to spend them with me.”

“jules?”

“yes, magnus?”

“i love you.”

“i love you too, honey.”

outside, the birds chirped as raven’s roost went along its normal life.

inside the top floor of the hammer and tongs, magnus thought of how he had always found solace in the quiet moments.

it had been that way for as long as he could remember.

everything was alright with the world.


End file.
